20th May 2026 By Contributor
After many years in nutrition, you start to look less for noise and more for signal. This year, the signal at Vitafoods was consistent, says FFA chair, Alex Worker, who was at the trade show.
📈 Dairy whey pricing is not correcting any time soon. Supply remains tight, demand remains resilient, and anyone building a strategy on near term relief is taking a risk. Dairy players now searching for other means for growth, having exhausted supply for the near term.
🌍 Affordable nutrition remains the central, unresolved challenge. If dairy continues to move up the cost curve, the question becomes practical rather than philosophical. Where do we secure high quality nutrition at a price point that works at scale? Rabobank predicted this structural market dynamic 6 years ago.
🧬 We are seeing a shift from single ingredient thinking to nutritional completeness – blends are everything. Fibre is part of that story, but increasingly it sits alongside protein, B12, folic acid and a range of micronutrients. Women’s health front and centre, the better-for-you direction of travel is clear. More value will sit in solutions systems, not inputs. We expect even more ecosystem collaboration, where it makes sense.
🍬 The distinction between supplements and food continues to erode. Consumers are not segmenting their choices the way the industry does. Formats that integrate seamlessly into daily routines are gaining ground.
🌐 Supply is global, but trust is still regional and supply chain resilience is local. China, the United States, India and France were strongly represented. Japan, Korea, Norway, Switzerland etc all in the room. Africa voice absent in Europe, yet a lot of the organic growth will come Africa and the Global South. European buyers still show a preference for European sourcing, but that preference is conditional on price.
⚖️ The conversation around GLP 1 and longevity has become more measured. Compared to last year, there is noticeably less willingness to make bold claims. Regulatory scrutiny is clearly influencing behaviour.
💡New technologies partnering with larger industry. Great to see Armor Protéines from France partner with Aussie technology platform, All G, to commercialise their lactoferrin starting on cosmetics and other nutraceutical applications.
🇳🇿 Where are the Kiwis? it was encouraging to see companies such as Anagenix, Keraplast, NXW, Tatua, and Aroma present. That said, New Zealand’s overall presence felt smaller than its capability would suggest – same feeling as Gulfood earlier this year.
🌊 Algae-based nutrition continues to build credibility. Omega 3s and DHA in oil and powder formats particular are moving steadily from niche applications toward broader adoption. Norway and Iceland origin stories are winning here.
🧩 Blending is emerging as a central strategy. Dairy players are looking beyond constrained supply, while plant-based players are focused on improving nutritional quality. The most interesting work is happening in the middle.
Our single biggest takeaway: the industry is moving beyond the debate about source.
The real competition will be defined by who can deliver complete, affordable nutrition at scale…or who can build truly defensible IP and license it into high-value, multi-function formulations and products.
China increasingly looks like the benchmark in biomanufacturing for the next decade, driven by scale, speed, and industrial coordination.
The key question now is whether the US and EU respond with more aggressive technical or non-technical barriers to defend domestic industries: regulation, standards, subsidies, procurement, trade policy, or “trusted supply chain” frameworks.
At the same time, much of the developed world still has strong opportunities in the higher-margin niches: clinical validation, premium formulations, longevity, medical nutrition, personalization, and specialized functional products.
Feels like the global industry is splitting into two lanes:
The companies that control distribution, standards, and customer relationships may ultimately capture the most value.
Future Food Aotearoa is a founders movement growing New Zealand’s modern food ecosystem.
This article was first published on Linkedin by FFA chair Alex Worked who was on the ground at the global nutraceutical tradeshow.
